Rabbi Jaffe sees a human kinship that supersedes religion.

ringing. This is life for Vic-
ki Krausz and JCAN.
With little operating mon-
ey, JCAN has no workers
outside of Vicki and Stephen
Krausz. What it does have
is a handful of dedicated vol-
unteers, like Dr. Hillel
(James) Rosenfeld, admin-
istrator of the North Oak-
land Child and Adolescent
Clinic in Pontiac.
Dr. Rosenfeld is an out-
spoken advocate for placing
Jewish children in Jewish
homes. "Our identity is
formed out of our culture,"
he says. "We know who we
are because we come from a
family, a community and
then, a broader culture."
Not to allow a child to grow

up in his own religion is to
"strip him of a major former
of his identity."
Adoptive children already
are wounded because they
have experienced great loss
— separation from their
birth parents. "Separation
and loss is traumatic for
children and it has lasting
effects," Dr. Rosenfeld says.
This pain — especially for
disabled children — can be
compounded by depriving
the child of his cultural iden-
tity.
Only now are social work-
ers beginning to understand
the importance of factors
like religion and race and
heritage, he says. In the
past, adoption was seen "as

a way to help childless fam-
ilies and girls with unwant-
ed babies." Today, the focus
is shifting to what will be
best for the child.
That hundreds of Jewish
children have been placed in
gentile homes is in many
ways the fault of the Jewish
community, he says.
"The Jewish system of
communal services has not
responded effectively" to
changes in adoption proce-
dures, such as the state's in-
terest in quickly moving
children into adoptive
homes (as opposed to letting
them languish in institu-
tions), he says.
Detroit's Jewish Family
Service sees few special-

Vicki Krausz and family and daughter
Elisheva, who started it all.

26

FRIDAY, JULY 10, 1992

needs Jewish children up for
adoption, according to JFS
Adoption and Foster Care
Coordinator Esther Krystal., 1
When she does learn of a –)
disabled child who needs a
home, Mrs. Krystal's first
step is to contact "everybody
on my wait list" — parents
hoping to adopt. Couples
have been asked in advance
whether they would be will-
ing to consider a hard-to-
place child and, if so, what
stipulations this would in-
clude. Would they take a
biracial child, one with a se-
rious medical problem, a
Down syndrome baby? H
If that fails, Mrs. Krystal-
calls other adoption agencies
and asks if they know of